By Luke V.
Rabbi Michele Medwin, Jewish Student Advisor at The Family Foundation School has started a new class to help the Jewish students that have distress in their lives. The class focuses on Healing from Despair, a book written by Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz. The book is comprised of certain sections. The first section of the book is Rabbi Spitz’s journey of overcoming his depression. Other sections of the book contain accounts of other Rabbis and how they overcame their struggles. At the end of each chapter there are exercises to help individuals overcome their despair.
Rabbi Medwin read a book written by Rabbi Spitz called Does the Soul Survive? and loved it. When she saw his new book, Healing From Despair she thought it would be great for the Jewish students because we all have endured suffering and these students could get a Jewish perspective. Rabbi Medwin contacted Rabbi Spitz looking for some kind of break in purchasing the books for a group of students and was given eight copies for free. In return, Rabbi Spitz wanted to know how the students were utilizing the book and its exercises. Rabbi Medwin affirmed, “The way you heal is to do positive things for other people.” The book correlates with the 12 steps, doing God’s will and helping others.
The class meets Monday evenings every two to three weeks, depending on Rabbi Medwin’s and the student’s schedules to discuss and more completely understand the concept of each individual chapter. The hope that Rabbi Medwin has coming from this class is that the Jewish students find peace, “shalom”, with themselves and feel a sense of wholeness. Rabbi Medwin hopes that the teachings in the book can help the students find this inner peace and help others to as well.
